Agenda - 02-18-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 2 Chair Jacobs brought up a couple of items that have come up and are of particular interest to the Commissioners. He said Agricultural Enterprises was discussed at the recent Assembly of Governments (AOG) meeting. He said there were varying opinions regarding an expedited process for accessory agricultural uses and whether this was appropriate in the rural buffer. He said some of the discussion was about making sure the planning board and the agricultural board had an opportunity to weigh in on these ordinances. He said he subsequently received an email from the planning department, which everyone has looked at. Chair Jacobs asked if there was any information that the Planning Board wished to communicate to the towns. He noted some of the concerns about depleting water or sewer. He said there are several things that needed more explanation, and he suggested this might be covered at the quarterly public hearing in February. He said another issue is the Eno Economic Development District (EDD). He said the Board of County Commissioners just passed a resolution that addressed the concerns people felt about N.C. Highway 10. He said the Board plans to send a letter to the petitioners who oppose the EDD, explaining that the concerns about Old NC 10 are being addressed. Chair Jacobs said rural clustering was discussed at the retreat last year. He said it is difficult to achieve any kind of density in rural Orange County, whether it is in the rural buffer or not. He said discussions centered on ways to have density where there are activity nodes. He said there is no mechanism for considering alternative systems other than water and sewer or well and septic tanks. He said Orange County has been resistant to putting any type of treatment plant anywhere. Chair Jacobs said he hopes to have a conversation about affordable housing in the mixed use and economic development districts. He said this is an area where some affordable units could be negotiated. Chair Jacobs opened the floor for additional comments. Commissioner Rich said there was a robust conversation at the AOG meeting regarding what goes on in the rural buffer areas, so clearly this is a topic of concern. She is glad the County is engaging Chapel Hill and Carrboro Maxecine Mitchell arrived at 5:52 pm. Paul Guthrie said he spent much of his career managing state agency funding of water and sewer projects in the early days of the clean water act. He said one of the biggest problems occurred in a county that had a high number of septic tanks, many of which were not in operation. He said the challenge was figuring out how to retrofit that county for some sort of sewage and water supply. He said Orange County is not to that level of density, but this needs to be considered as the density and population increases. Chair Jacobs said the land use plan that was adopted in 1981 pretty much defines where water and sewer will go, and the County has done a good job of identifying these areas. He said this does not mean that you cannot have a rural village. He noted the high amount of protected watershed in the majority of the County, which is problematic for water and sewer. Craig Benedict said the 2040 plan from the Metropolitan Transportation MPO projects more than 63,000 people moving into rural Orange County over a 30 year period. He said this equates to 930 houses per year. He said this is a challenge and these projections need to be examined. He said there is high demand due to the job growth in the Triangle. He said if the models say these people are coming then the land use regulations need to be in line with that. Chair Jacobs said he feels that the numbers from the MPO are drastically over- estimated. He does not want to plan for growth that won't actually happen and is not wanted. He said there will always be unanticipated situations that happen, such as droughts or recessions, that change the planner's trajectories. He said it is good to look at the numbers, but it is necessary to vet the projections before planning for them. 2